Your Own Prejudice

 ey Text: Choose one of the texts from Wednesdays section of the lesson.
K
Write it here and memorize it this week.
February 20, 2016

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Sunday

HERES WHAT I THINK

Is your school like Chapin High School was at the beginning of the

school year? Do groups of people sit together and exclude others from
joining them? List the various groups in your school and what binds
each group together. Do you belong to a group? Why or why not? What
are the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to a group?

THE STOP CLUB

Log onto www.guidemagazine.org/rtf to post your response. Be upfront and honest. Say what you think.

(What connection do you think the following illustration has with the
Bible texts in Wednesdays section?)
At the beginning of each year, students at Chapin High School in
Chapin, South Carolina, U.S.A., chart the groups and cliques on their
campus.
We look at the drawings, and we see that [various groups] tend to
stay to themselves, said Danielle Major, faculty adviser for the schools
STOP club, which stands for Students Together Overcoming Prejudice.
We pull the chart apart. Our students ask themselves, What can we do
this year thats going to help those people interact with these people?
The result: Unity Day, an annual gathering that includes diversity
workshops and a pep rally. And while Unity Day is a single event,
organizers see its effects throughout the year.
I joined the STOP club because Im open-minded and I wanted to
encourage other people to be open-minded, said 16-year-old junior
Caroline Nelson. After three years, Nelson has felt the changes at the
predominately White school in small-town South Carolina, U.S.A.
Sometimes I hear people put other people down, and usually
now somebody else steps up and defends the person, Nelson said.
People stand up more for what they think is right.
They dont fuss about it, added Terrell Boyd, also 16 and a
member of STOP for one year. But they tell them its offensive, that
it offends them and the person it was directed at.
Mix It Up was launched last fall, calling on students to switch their
seats in the cafeteria for one day, breaking down the social, racial, and
other boundaries that divided schools.
On November 21, 2002, more than 200,000 students at more than
3,000 schools took part in the first Mix It Up day.
Chapin School was one of those 3,000. In addition to morning diversity
workshops, Unity Day this year included a Mix It Up exercise at lunch.
Students were given colored LifeSavers as they exited the lunch line, then
asked to sit with people who had the same color LifeSavers. The lunchroom theme, appropriately, was So many colors, one great flavor.

Monday

WHAT ARE THEY

TRYING TO SAY?

Different people, different opinions. Some of the quotations below

represent the views of true kingdom citizens; others may not. Can
you tell the difference? How do these statements compare with
what God is saying in His Word? After reviewing the texts in the
God Says . . . section of the lesson, write a statement that captures your belief. Be prepared to quote yourself at Sabbath School.
Prejudice is the child of ignorance.William Hazlitt, 19th-century British writer.
As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down

there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise
might.Marian Anderson, 20th-century African-American singer.
I wasnt always black. . . . There was this freckle, and it got bigger and

bigger.Bill Cosby, U.S. author, actor, and comedian.

I realize that Im black, but I like to be viewed as a person, and this is

everybodys wish.Michael Jordan, retired U.S. basketball player.

In high school I loved the social atmosphere. Thinking back I never

Adapted from Brian Willoughby, UNITY DAY: Mixing It Up in South Carolina. For more in-

would have gotten to know some of my closest friends if I had stereotyped or judged people. Its just not right. . . . I dont look at people
through filters. I look at them for how they are and how they treat others.Erik-Michael Estrada, U.S. musician.

formation, go to http://www.tolerance.org.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and

renders the present inaccessible.Maya Angelou, U.S. author.

Two things reduce prejudice: education and laughter.Laurence J. Peter,
20th-century U.S. author.

Dont be selfish; dont try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of oth-

ers as better than yourselves.Philippians 2:3, NLT.

Write your own quotation.



What I say is . . .

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Copyright 2016 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

YOUR OWN PREJUDICE / February 20, 2016

Tuesday

SO WHAT?
Although words such as racism and sexism (and in most translations even

the word prejudice) arent in the Bible, its clear that God wants everyone
to be treated equally. God gives us example after example of how to treat
those members of society whom other members of society reject. This is
so important to Him that its even part of the law given to Moses.
Speaking of Moses, we see one clear example of prejudice in Moses

own family, when his brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, spoke
against Moses foreign wife. Miriam paid for her unkindness with seven
days of shame living outside the camp with leprosy.
Jesus confronted every -ism there was in the three years of His public

ministry. Anyone was welcome to follow Him: women, children, tax collectors, old people, foreigners, those sick with contagious diseases,
those who were crippled, and even traitors. He gathered around Him everyone that society said to avoid or ignore. Not only that, He told His disciples that it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a
large millstone tied around their neck than to hurt someone He called
the least of these.

Wednesday

GOD SAYS . . .
Deuteronomy 10:19 (NLT)

So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were
once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
1 Samuel 16:7 (NET)

God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Proverbs 28:21 (TEV)

Prejudice is wrong.
Luke 17:1, 2 (NET)

Jesus said to his disciples, Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe
to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him to have
a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him
to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Acts 10:34, 35 (NLT)

Then Peter replied, I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In
every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.

Prejudice is part of human nature, sometimes learned from our families,

and absorbed from the society in which we live. But by Gods power and
grace we can become defenders, protectors, and friends to anyone.

Galatians 3:28 (NET)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave or free, there is
neither male nor female for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 5:21 (NET)

Before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, I solemnly charge you
to carry out these commands without prejudice or favoritism of any kind.
James 3:17 (TEV)

Thursday

WHAT DOES THIS

HAVE TO DO WITH ME?

But the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle,
and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good
deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy.
(More: Read Numbers 12:1-15 and think about how prejudice may have

Now is the time in your life when friends are becoming the most import-

played a part in this story.)

ant people (MIP) in your life. Soon they may even edge out your family
for that position. This is also the time when you are finding out who you
are. Thats difficult, because you are changing rapidly every day (maybe
even every hour!). Since you are so focused on this task, it may be
harder than ever to be around people who are really different. But you
must, because thats the way life is.
Dealing with people from various backgrounds is necessary in a global

society and a global church. Even though its difficult, now is the time to
look at what youve been taught about others and challenge those things
you have found not to be true. Ask God to show you where you might
have prejudices against someone or a group of people. Ask Him for the
power to at least once a week seek out someone who is totally unlike
you to interact with. Then stand back and watch Him work.

Friday

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Grab a pencil and finish the following sentences quickly, without stop-

ping long to think about your answer. Put the first thing that comes to
your mind.

Elderly people are ___________________________________________________

When boys ___________________________________________________ they

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Immigrants always __________________________________________________

My country is ____________________________________________________

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Girls cant __________________________________________________________

Other countries are _______________________________________________

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Now go back through and think carefully about your responses. Using

others react or the way we have been told to. Thats not always the best
way because in Gods kingdom a different kind of thinking is needed.
Ask God to live in you so that you can treat others as He doeswithout
prejudice or favoritism.

a different colored pen or pencil, change your responses to fit how an

agent of the kingdom of God should respond. Realize that we often
react to people and situations according to the way we have watched

Copyright 2016 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists